Reece exhibits a sympathetic mindset quote a few times in the third part of the book. One example in the book is when he gets the inspectors to come and check the water. Although he has been very passive throughout his trips to Lost Mountain, you can see that he knows he needs to help in some way. He did not argue, preach and yell at these inspectors and operators. Instead, he used the system to get them to acknowledge that there is something wrong and that the fills need to be tended to and checked. His ways of action were through the system and not disrespectful. He realized logically and reasonably that if he acted appropriately, there would be a better chance of people being helped and the waters getting cleaned. The second "sympathetic" mindset that he showed was when he was explaining the option of reforestation. He has taken a bad situation that he was unable to affect and found the most reasonable solution to the problem. He recognizes Wangari Maathai's attempt to replenish her land. The reasoning behind his thought is that it can produce citizens to work with the forest and live with each other in a sustainable environment.
The quote I wanted to do part B on comes from page 203 and it goes "I think, for this reason that former Czech president Vaclav Havel said we must 'reconstitute the natural world as the true domain of politics.' Ideology and arbitrary borders mean little when the roofs won't stay on houses anywhere and people die of bronchial infections everywhere. It is time we stopped thinking like those who conquer mountains and started thinking like the mountain itself." This quote really made me think of the lives that we are living. Everyone is battling against each other and wondering about what everyone else is doing when inside our borders we have so many troubles. America is concerned at Iraq's government when in fact ours is tainted as well. We fight each other not realizing that we are fighting and hurting mother nature. If we thought like the mountain, we would work in harmony and live in a sustainable environment. The world would live with each other and we would leave natural selection up to nature instead of leaving it up to coal companies and war. People have thought too much about their own needs instead of realizing how to live in harmony with everyone.
I totally agree with the comment you made regarding the quote you took from the book. It is true that man needs to be more like the mountain instead of conquering the mountain. I had never really thought like this before and it makes perfect sense. Mother nature was in charge long before humans came along what makes us entitled to alter her plans?
ReplyDeleteI liked your statements. The way you explained a rational mind as selfish and a sympathetic as thinking of others and their feelings was good. Reese's reforestation is a good way to help the environment. It is a good way to sustain life and forests for the future of wildlife and our life.
ReplyDeleteI like your statement about if we "thought like the mountain". Its important that we all realize that we are here together and its important to live in harmony.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your quote also. One basic thing to remember is that nature has no government, no boundaries. At one time it was all prestine and flowed as mother nature intended it to. Until humans came in and made artificial borders (states, countries etc...)and the ideology that nature can be owned and ruled by politics. I think he is trying to say that we need to get "back to the basics" because were destroying nature and in turn hurting ourselves. This is explained in the part of your quote '...means little when the roofs won't stay on houses anywhere and people die of bronchial infections everywhere.'
ReplyDeleteI like the quote you used and the way you described it. I agree that it is twisted how much our country tries to "fix" problems in other countries yet we have plenty of our own problems that go unnoticed for those unaffected by it. We worry about how countries are being run but ignore the fact that we are damaging nature and our earth and once we use up all of our natural resources we will have nothing and it will be our fault because we didn't try to give back or ration what our planet has given us.
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